Joss Whedon has said that a sequel to The Avengers would need to be “smaller” and “more personal”. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator told SFX that he doesn’t want a follow-up to “rehash” what worked in the first film. Asked how Avengers 2 could top next month’s superhero blockbuster, Whedon responded: “By not trying to. By being smaller. More personal, more painful. “By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself.” Whedon joked that a sequel could take heed from crime classic The Godfather II “by having flashbacks to young Michael Andolini escaping Sicily to come to New York, where he will be called Corleone”. “Sequels are always better when that happens,” he quipped. Whedon added that he has strived to give each character in The Avengers, which brings together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk, enough screen time to see “what makes them awesome”. “I want to know what makes them tick, what makes them flawed, what makes them fight – and ultimately, what makes them awesome,” he explained. “I go to these movies for those moments when the heroes define themselves, either through action or deliciously overwritten speeches.” The Avengers opens in cinemas this May with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson leading the cast.

Gawd, I love this man. He is such a brilliantly creative person. He really gets it when it comes to telling compelling stories that make the audience want more. He managed to turn Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a series that could’ve frittered away to campy nothingness in the wrong hands, into a bona fide pop culture phenomenon … not because of his use of vampires, demons and monsters … but by focusing on creating characters that viewers genuinely care for. He could do the same for The Avengers, I think. I’m quite taken with his idea to scale down The Avengers 2 into something smaller and more personal, I guess we’ll have to see if the studio will let him exercise that vision. For now, we look toward the release of the BLOCKBUSTER first film, The Avengers. Just weeks aways, folks … so very close.